Comments on: The state of the future http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future Accelerating Intelligence Thu, 23 May 2013 21:05:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: virtualted http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future/comment-page-1#comment-937 virtualted Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:27:12 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=95343#comment-937 Any implementation of ways to improve the human condition must start with world law. As the Internet becomes ubiquitous web3.0 will provide the planet with political momentum to address the challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies and their relationship to human survival and optimistically - the thriving of the human race as we merge with our technology. Global governance is required as the envelope surrounding prudent and fair decisions concerning a plethera of options pertaining to each and every situation. Chaos theory compounds the complexity of making "right decisions". One proposal for such a system of global governance is with a representative, transparent and democratic world parliament. Two modern tools make such a concept feasible - the Internet as the technological tool and the Referendum as the political tool. Our NGO is basically conducting a global referendum whereby we are asking the adults (16+ years old) of the planet a "yes / no" question - "Do you support the creation of a directly-elected, representative and democratic world parliament that is authorized to legislate on global issues?" Right now over 21,000 people have voted and the tally is currently 95% "Yes". This global referendum is planned to go "viral" during the next several months - which means lots and lots of more votes. Democracy dictates that should the outcome be "No" - then the global referendum will close. Should the outcome be "Yes" - we have a road map and time frame to get us from here (a very undemocratic United Nations) to there (a representative, transparent and democratic world parliament). The ballot is at Vote World Parliament dot org and the fall 2008 published book that supports the referendum is at Rescue Plan for Planet Earth dot com. As Buckminster Fuller said, paraphrasing - "it would be the biggest bummer imaginable if mankind failed as an experiment in universe". Ted Stalets UbiquitousInternet.com Any implementation of ways to improve the human condition must start with world law. As the Internet becomes ubiquitous web3.0 will provide the planet with political momentum to address the challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies and their relationship to human survival and optimistically – the thriving of the human race as we merge with our technology. Global governance is required as the envelope surrounding prudent and fair decisions concerning a plethera of options pertaining to each and every situation. Chaos theory compounds the complexity of making “right decisions”. One proposal for such a system of global governance is with a representative, transparent and democratic world parliament. Two modern tools make such a concept feasible – the Internet as the technological tool and the Referendum as the political tool. Our NGO is basically conducting a global referendum whereby we are asking the adults (16+ years old) of the planet a “yes / no” question – “Do you support the creation of a directly-elected, representative and democratic world parliament that is authorized to legislate on global issues?” Right now over 21,000 people have voted and the tally is currently 95% “Yes”. This global referendum is planned to go “viral” during the next several months – which means lots and lots of more votes. Democracy dictates that should the outcome be “No” – then the global referendum will close. Should the outcome be “Yes” – we have a road map and time frame to get us from here (a very undemocratic United Nations) to there (a representative, transparent and democratic world parliament). The ballot is at Vote World Parliament dot org and the fall 2008 published book that supports the referendum is at Rescue Plan for Planet Earth dot com.

As Buckminster Fuller said, paraphrasing – “it would be the biggest bummer imaginable if mankind failed as an experiment in universe”.

Ted Stalets
UbiquitousInternet.com

]]> By: Knaak http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future/comment-page-1#comment-346 Knaak Sat, 31 Jul 2010 06:19:29 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=95343#comment-346 Coming out of a Mormon childhood, I can tell you Inter-religious dialog is the crux of the matter. I cannot even begin to discuss anything "beyond belief" to my devout extended family. And they are MY FAMILY. Imagine strangers on opposite sides of the world, in religions that have an intrinsic hatred and incompatibility . Good Luck with that. Coming out of a Mormon childhood, I can tell you Inter-religious dialog is the crux of the matter. I cannot even begin to discuss anything “beyond belief” to my devout extended family. And they are MY FAMILY. Imagine strangers on opposite sides of the world, in religions that have an intrinsic hatred and incompatibility
.
Good Luck with that.

]]> By: frankfc http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future/comment-page-1#comment-274 frankfc Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:15:46 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=95343#comment-274 Everything in the next hundred years will be fixed which will put smiles on most of our faces. But while we are smiling, our one insoluble problem of population growth will continue to inflate, forcing us in the end to leave this planet and set up shop somewhere else just as we have done throughout our history on this planet. Everything in the next hundred years will be fixed which will put smiles on most of our faces. But while we are smiling, our one insoluble problem of population growth will continue to inflate, forcing us in the end to leave this planet and set up shop somewhere else just as we have done throughout our history on this planet.

]]> By: johnarnott http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future/comment-page-1#comment-266 johnarnott Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:52:24 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=95343#comment-266 I think the summary is cautiously optimistic which I find refreshing. However, I think that one major societal factor has been ignored that has the potential to inflict considerable damage on our societies and could be a major impediment to the expressed optimism. I refer to the ever increasing concentration of wealth amongst the already rich in the developed world. Academic studies illustrate that beyond a certain economic point, happiness does not improve with increased wealth. The concentration of wealth comes at the expense of the middle class, the very masses that we need to nurture a healthy society. This issue is a political 'elephant in the closet' in the US but needs to be addressed if the middle class is to stop the steady erosion of living standards that has characterized the last several administrations. I think the summary is cautiously optimistic which I find refreshing. However, I think that one major societal factor has been ignored that has the potential to inflict considerable damage on our societies and could be a major impediment to the expressed optimism. I refer to the ever increasing concentration of wealth amongst the already rich in the developed world. Academic studies illustrate that beyond a certain economic point, happiness does not improve with increased wealth. The concentration of wealth comes at the expense of the middle class, the very masses that we need to nurture a healthy society.
This issue is a political ‘elephant in the closet’ in the US but needs to be addressed if the middle class is to stop the steady erosion of living standards that has characterized the last several administrations.

]]> By: roger_erickson http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future/comment-page-1#comment-265 roger_erickson Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:23:11 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=95343#comment-265 formatting stripped out the active links Eisner: http://books.google.com/books?id=jTSddYcGA6gC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Robert+Eisner,+The+Misunderstood+Economy&source=bl&ots=nz6wJ-sCnK&sig=6Vli8JdSQLSwlg9K1rVcdnW2SIc&hl=en&ei=KeQxTJ3JBoGclgePgaXACw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Mitchell: http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=2943 Wray: http://www.cfeps.org/pubs/pn-pdf/PolicyNote2006-1.pdf Mosler: http://moslerforsenate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/7DIF.pdf formatting stripped out the active links

Eisner: http://books.google.com/books?id=jTSddYcGA6gC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Robert+Eisner,+The+Misunderstood+Economy&source=bl&ots=nz6wJ-sCnK&sig=6Vli8JdSQLSwlg9K1rVcdnW2SIc&hl=en&ei=KeQxTJ3JBoGclgePgaXACw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Mitchell: http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=2943

Wray: http://www.cfeps.org/pubs/pn-pdf/PolicyNote2006-1.pdf

Mosler: http://moslerforsenate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/7DIF.pdf

]]> By: roger_erickson http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future/comment-page-1#comment-264 roger_erickson Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:17:40 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=95343#comment-264 Since we have zero predictive power, the one thing you can presume with near 100% reliability is that exactly NONE of these prognostications will pan out. Case in point? You exhibit no understanding of real monetary operations. "Almost everybody talks about budget deficits. Almost everybody seems in principle to be against them. And almost no one, literally, knows what [they are] talking about." [Robert Eisner, The Misunderstood Economy, p.90; ] Public initiative and the beginning of US currency: Fiscal sustainability 101, by Bill Mitchell Teaching the Fallacy of Composition: The Federal Budget Deficit, by Randy Wray 7 Deadly, Innocent Frauds, by Warren Mosler American's have always known, and still know, that public will comes first, and currency creation second. [Without this freedom, the USA could not have won WWII, and will not be able to collectively act to end our current, policy-driven recession.] Since we have zero predictive power, the one thing you can presume with near 100% reliability is that exactly NONE of these prognostications will pan out.
Case in point? You exhibit no understanding of real monetary operations.

“Almost everybody talks about budget deficits. Almost everybody seems in principle to be against them. And almost no one, literally, knows what [they are] talking about.” [Robert Eisner, The Misunderstood Economy, p.90; ]

Public initiative and the beginning of US currency:

Fiscal sustainability 101, by Bill Mitchell

Teaching the Fallacy of Composition: The Federal Budget Deficit, by Randy Wray

7 Deadly, Innocent Frauds, by Warren Mosler

American’s have always known, and still know, that public will comes first, and currency creation second.
[Without this freedom, the USA could not have won WWII, and will not be able to collectively act to end our current, policy-driven recession.]

]]> By: Jerome Glenn http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future/comment-page-1#comment-259 Jerome Glenn Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:07:25 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=95343#comment-259 And remember this is a world report, not a US report. Although the US is only about 4.5% of the world, it's financial debt is a major influence and is governance is a major influence, though potentially less so in the future with the growth of the BRICs. And remember this is a world report, not a US report. Although the US is only about 4.5% of the world, it’s financial debt is a major influence and is governance is a major influence, though potentially less so in the future with the growth of the BRICs.

]]> By: Jerome Glenn http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future/comment-page-1#comment-258 Jerome Glenn Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:04:11 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=95343#comment-258 Good call. We have this in the state of the future index but not in the executive summary. Thank you for the feedback. Good call. We have this in the state of the future index but not in the executive summary. Thank you for the feedback.

]]> By: The State of the Future « David Frederick's – iAIR BLOG http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future/comment-page-1#comment-257 The State of the Future « David Frederick's – iAIR BLOG Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:08:15 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=95343#comment-257 [...] To Read more of this article click here [...] [...] To Read more of this article click here [...]

]]> By: bhees http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-state-of-the-future/comment-page-1#comment-253 bhees Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:29:32 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=95343#comment-253 > If current trends in population growth, [etc.] converge over the next 50 to 100 years, it is easy to imagine an unstable world with catastrophic results. You forgot government debt. If current trends in government debt continue for even a couple more years we're doomed, even if none of the other ill trends continue. Likewise if current trends in government takeover of the economy continue much longer, it's likely that none of the good trends, particularly accelerating innovation, will continue. > If current trends in population growth, [etc.] converge over the next 50 to 100 years, it is easy to imagine an unstable world with catastrophic results.

You forgot government debt. If current trends in government debt continue for even a couple more years we’re doomed, even if none of the other ill trends continue. Likewise if current trends in government takeover of the economy continue much longer, it’s likely that none of the good trends, particularly accelerating innovation, will continue.

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